iPhone SE3 might've been a better upgrade path. Substantially cheaper (than the 16), still has a good few years of updates left, still has touch ID, and the exact same form factor as the iPhone 8.
Forced to upgrade
51–60 of 303 posts
Re: Forced to upgrade
#52To play devil’s advocate here, I actually think iPhones have some of the best longevity and resale value, compared to virtually any other product or brand - except perhaps if we go back decades to appliances made near the middle of the century. The fact that a device can be perfectly usable for 5+ years is pretty good compared to most other things I find myself buying and replacing in less time. Otherwise I think the…
> The fact that a device can be perfectly usable for 5+ years is pretty good compared to most other things I find myself buying and replacing in less time.
Woa. Nearly every other device in my house lasts for 10+ years. Coffee machine, printer, laundry machine, oven, TV, every single one of those is over 10 years old. Our car isn't yet but I very much expect it to last at least that long. The only device I replace about as often as a phone is my laptop. At least the laptop is noticeably better. I concur with the author that phones haven't gotten meaningfully better at all over the last years, yet we're forced to upgrade. It's all planned obsolescence.
Re: Forced to upgrade
#53You will get longer support with alternative firmware like GrapheneOS or LineageOS, which both support some phones abandoned by their manufacturers.
Re: Forced to upgrade
#54To play devil’s advocate here, I actually think iPhones have some of the best longevity and resale value, compared to virtually any other product or brand - except perhaps if we go back decades to appliances made near the middle of the century. The fact that a device can be perfectly usable for 5+ years is pretty good compared to most other things I find myself buying and replacing in less time. Otherwise I think the…
That could work (given sufficiently good build-out of the data network), but for the mid-term you'd still need to have a way to receive SMS for 2FA etc.
I want "2FA device in a drawer". Always on, on a mute, receiving SMS, and forwarding them to the system of my choice (CalDAV, email, etc).
Re: Forced to upgrade
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
That could work (given sufficiently good build-out of the data network), but for the mid-term you'd still need to have a way to receive SMS for 2FA etc.
Google Voice or Twilio could solve this, I think?
Their phone number ranges and oftentimes gray or blacklisted.
Re: Forced to upgrade
#56The real question, IMO, is why the need to release a new model every year? I think a lot of the churn of both hardware and software had nothing to do with technological progress, and everything to do with generating sales.
I don't think it's unreasonable to release new hardware every year. Apple is iterating on CPUs on an annual basis, and the new CPUs make for a better phone. It probably doesn't often make sense for a user to upgrade a single step (anymore), but if you're buying, the newer one has a better cpu, so it's worth considering.
That'a separate from software churn though. Desktop OSes tend to support hardware for much longer than mobile OSes. Apple does better than Android here, but they both should do better. My perception is that most android apps support much older versions of Android than iOS apps support of iOS, but I don't know how that ends up looking for age of device supported.
Re: Forced to upgrade
#57I feel the same as the author. I also can’t come up with any satisfying solution. I empathize with apple and don’t expect them to support old hardware forever. The only solution I can think of is allowing people to support older hardware themselves. This is one of the strongest arguments for loosening the walled garden for older devices.
> I also can’t come up with any satisfying solution.
Laws. As someone else suggested here, the EU mandates 5 years of support. Make it 10.
Too big of a barrier that cripples new entrants? Apply it only to megacorps, just like the DMA. Easy peasy.
It's trivially easy to solve this, but late stage capitalism's resulting regulatory capture prevents it.
Re: Forced to upgrade
#58To play devil’s advocate here, I actually think iPhones have some of the best longevity and resale value, compared to virtually any other product or brand - except perhaps if we go back decades to appliances made near the middle of the century. The fact that a device can be perfectly usable for 5+ years is pretty good compared to most other things I find myself buying and replacing in less time. Otherwise I think the…
That could work (given sufficiently good build-out of the data network), but for the mid-term you'd still need to have a way to receive SMS for 2FA etc.
It gets worse, the banks I use have phased out sms for 2FA. Only using their app on a non-rooted phone is allowed. So getting a dumb phone doesn't work either.
Re: Forced to upgrade
#59To play devil’s advocate here, I actually think iPhones have some of the best longevity and resale value, compared to virtually any other product or brand - except perhaps if we go back decades to appliances made near the middle of the century. The fact that a device can be perfectly usable for 5+ years is pretty good compared to most other things I find myself buying and replacing in less time. Otherwise I think the…
> The fact that a device can be perfectly usable for 5+ years is pretty good compared to most other things I find myself buying and replacing in less time. Woa. Nearly every other device in my house lasts for 10+ years. Coffee machine, printer, laundry machine, oven, TV, every single one of those is over 10 years old. Our car isn't yet but I very much expect it to last at least that long. The only device I replace ab…
I think you’re probably buying higher quality items, yes? Because there’s no way a $50-100 coffee machine or printer is lasting a decade.
This can probably be explained by the fact that an iPhone is a “cheaper” (comparatively) high end item. In other words, it’s one of the few high end items that many middle and low income people own. And thus compared to the coffee machines, printers, and other cheap electronics that break after a couple years, the iPhone seems rather durable.
Re: Forced to upgrade
#60Just "upgraded" to a Pixel 8 from a 4a (it wasn't even my intention to do so, went to have my 4a battery replaced but the shop botched the job and I needed a working phone quickly), I agree with every point made by the author. It does the same things as the 4a did, just marginally faster. Screen is better but I don't really care, and using it with one hand is harder. On top of that, I'm praying the dreaded green scre…
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